DIY Science: Tie-Dye Flowers

Create two-toned flowers as beautiful keepsakes or gifts!

Here’s what you need to give this a try at home:

• Fresh white flowers (e.g. Carnations)

• Red food dye

• Blue food dye

• Knife

• 2 Glasses of water

The Instructions:

1. Split the bottom of the stems of a white carnation in two with a knife.

2. Add a small amount of red food dye to one glass of water and some blue food dye to your second glass.

3. Lower one part of your split white flower stems in to one glass of water and the other in to the second glass of water. The roots will suck up the food dye producing a two-toned flower!

4. It will take a bit of time to see the change but it will be so worth it to amaze everyone with your fancy two toned flowers.

The science:

This is caused by a process known as capillary action. The science behind capillary action in plants is that water travels through the roots of the stem before spreading out to the leaves. The water evaporates from the leaves, in a process known as transpiration, and the stem pulls up more water to replace what it has lost.

By Sarah Dawn Maria Green

Follow @LitLabLondon on Instagram and let us know if you tried this!

Sign up to our mailing list below and follow us on Patreon ‘Lit Lab London’ for more DIY science, Behind-the-scenes and the latest science news.